Almost immediately following his presentation, Musa left – and that probably was the best thing because on the heels of his presentation was legendary debater and Minister of Housing Michael Finnegan who was merciless.
Hon. Michael Finnegan, Minister of Housing
“I listened to the former Prime Minister and member for Fort George and the one thing I can give him credit for, that member has more nerve than ten bad teeth.
Mr. Speaker they have a long thing like this, very long like this which they call the bukut. And this bukut, the face of the bukut noh smooth, when you touch it is rough, it feels like grater. And you have to knock it with a hammer or a pint bottle or some hard object to bruk this bukut. And when you bruk the bukut and you open it, sometimes inside the bukut juicy and sometimes its just dead. Mr. Speaker this is what the former member from Fort George used on the Belizean people over the last ten years when they put that bukut on them.
I am certain that the member from Lake I knows when those boys out there tell you they will drop that bukut on you, you know when they drop that bukut on you what it means and I will explain Mr. Speaker how the former Prime Minister and the PUP dropped that big bukut on we and they put that big bukut on you it hurt, it was a terrible feeling.”
A major part of the case that Finnegan laid out was the issue of the secret Accommodation Agreement signed between the Musa Administration and BTL – guaranteeing the company 15% profit – or a break on tax.
Hon. Michael Finnegan,
“Now imagine the government giving all this and that away when the poor people of this country di suffer to a multi-million dollar corporation. You could imagine what kind of heart, what kind of feeling do you have for the masses of the poor or the people out there when you are giving away the country lock stock and barrel through a accommodation agreement.
They are making money all along, the richest company in this country but you tell them, in this agreement if they are not making your profit, we will pay you for it. You think BTL and Michael Ashcroft they are fool noh. Immediately they stopped making profit and say we owe them $7 million and dropped that bukut on we. And then the PUP write off the $7 million so that they didn’t pay their business tax.
That neva bad enough, BTL claimed an additional $1.6 million shortfall for last year, another bukut they put on we. So now $7 million and $11 million as far as I understand is $18 million - so that is $18 million. That is $18 million less that the Prime Minister and this government could have inserted in the budget, that could have done a lot of wonderful things for the people of this country.
Lot of wonderful things: rural electricification, rural water, sports, money for small farmers, housing, small man on the street as the member from Lake I talks about, open new daycare centers, help the common man in terms of projects, small loans for small people, south side project, and food subsidy which they complain so much about that the money is so small, and the $175,000 for single mothers – my gawd if unu neva thief and give away the $18 million we could have used it on that which you are complaining about. I di tell unu, unu have more nerves than ten bad teeth.”
The budget now goes to the Senate for ratification and then to the Governor General to be signed. Under the constitution, the budget has to be passed before the end of July.
